Saturday, May 5, 2012

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Amish children raised on rural farms in northern Indiana suffer from asthma and allergies less often even than Swiss farm kids, a group known to be relatively free from allergies, according to a new study.

"The rates are very, very low," said Dr. Mark Holbreich,
the study's lead author. "So there's something that we feel is even
more protective in the Amish" than in European farming communities.

What it is about growing up on farms -- and Amish farms in particular -- that seems to prevent allergies remains unclear.

Researchers have long observed the so-called "farm effect" -- the low allergy and asthma rates
found among kids raised on farms -- in central Europe, but less is
known about the influence of growing up on North American farms.

Holbreich, an allergist in Indianapolis, has been
treating Amish communities in Indiana for two decades, but he noticed
that very few Amish actually had any allergies.

As studies on the farm effect in Europe began to emerge
several years ago, Holbreich wondered if the same phenomenon might be
found in the United States.

He teamed up with European colleagues to compare Swiss farming children and non-farming children to Amish kids in Indiana.

Amish families, who can trace their roots back to
Switzerland, typically farm using methods from the 1800s and they don't
own cars or televisions.

The researchers surveyed 157 Amish families, about
3,000 Swiss farming families, and close to 11,000 Swiss families who did
not live on a farm -- all with children between the ages of six and 12.

They found that just
five percent of Amish kids had been diagnosed with asthma, compared to
6.8 percent of Swiss farm kids and 11.2 percent of the other Swiss
children.

Similarly, among 138 Amish kids given a skin-prick test
to determine whether they were predisposed to having allergies, only 10
kids -- or seven percent -- had a positive response.

In comparison, 25 percent of the farm-raised Swiss kids
and 44 percent of the other Swiss children had a positive test, the
researchers report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

The study did not determine why the kids who grew up on
farms were less likely to develop asthma and allergies, but other
research has pointed to exposure to microbes and contact with cows, in
particular, to partially explain the farm effect (see Reuters Health
story of May 2, 2012).

Drinking raw cow's milk also seems to be involved, Holbreich said.

The going theory is this early exposure to the diverse
potential allergens and pathogens on a farm trains the immune system to
recognize them, but not overreact to the harmless ones.

As for why the Amish kids have even lower allergy and
asthma rates than the other farming kids, "that piece of the puzzle we
really haven't explained," Holbreich told Reuters Health.

He speculated that it could be at least partly a result of the Amish having larger families or spending even more time outside or in barns than people on more modern working farms.

Dr. Corinna Bowser, an allergist in Cherry Hill, New
Jersey, said there's also a possibility that inherited factors could
play a role.

"The Amish are still of a limited genetic pool, I would
assume, because they're much more segregated than the Swiss kids are,"
she told Reuters Health.

Holbreich said upcoming studies will further
investigate the differences between the farming groups, with an eye
toward designing possible interventions.

For instance, pregnant mothers or young children could
be exposed to the mysterious factors that seem to protect farm kids as a
preventive treatment, he explained.

"The goal is to try to find a way to prevent this
allergy and asthma epidemic that western populations are facing,"
Holbreich said.

“How many voices in our materialist society tell us that happiness is to be found by acquiring as many possessions and luxuries as we can? But this is to make possessions into a false god. Instead of bringing life, they bring death.”- Pope Benedict XVI

"This past Wednesday I was in part of the hospital that was devoted to people who have memory problems like my father. The people here may have no idea who I am but they light up at the sight of a collar. People who cannot carry on a conversation click “on” and join in prayer as if there were little wrong with them, their faces relaxing in this moment of peace amidst the chaos of illness."- Fr. Valencheck

"The priest's life is not his own. He does not live it for himself and his personal fulfillment, but for the salvation of souls."- Fr. Richtsteig

"I am convinced that if we simply follow the liturgical books, say the texts and carry out the gestures properly, in a style continuous with our tradition, the Church’s liturgy has power the capture minds and hearts and transform them.

I starting forming this conviction before I became a Catholic through my experience of Novus Ordo Masses done in an entirely Roman traditional style, closely following the books.

The late Msgr. Richard Schuler would eventually articulate to me in words what I was experiencing in the church. "Just do what the Council asked… do what the Church asks."

Why is worship well executed according to the mind of the Church so effective?

Christ is the true Actor in the sacred action of the Church’s worship. He makes our hands and voices His own as He raises our petitions and offerings to the Father for His glory and our salvation.

Christ’s Holy Church has determined the way by which we may have this encounter with mystery in the liturgy, be taken up in the sacred action.

Although we have the right to our Rite celebrated as the Church desires, liturgy is not about me or us or even you in the pews." - Fr. Zuhlsdorf

"After celebrating Mass facing the Lord I can report these favorable effects from the priest's point of view:

1. I don't have to worry about where to look
2. I don't have to worry about what my face looks like
3. I can weep at the beauty and wonder of it all without concern
4. I can worship more freely and fully
5. I feel more at one with the people of God
6. I am on a journey to God with the people
7. I am not the focus of attention
8. The elevation of the host and the Ecce Agnus Dei have become more of a focus
9. I feel more part of the great tradition
10. I can't see who's not paying attention and feel I have to do something to get their attention back." - Fr. Longenecker

"My rector in Denver, when he was a young priest, was eating dinner at his secretary's house, a widow from Sicily. Thinking he was polite he said, 'If you wish you can call me Michael.' She stopped, put her hand on her hip, and, pointing at him with her wooden spoon, said, 'Don't think I call you Father because I think you're better than me! I call you Father to remind you who you're supposed to be and how you're going to be judged by our Lord!' He passes that lesson on to all his seminarians."- Fr. Andrew

Decalogue Against Temptation

1. Do not forget that the devil exists.
2. Do not forget that the devil is a tempter.
3. Do not forget that the devil is very intelligent and astute.
4. Be vigilant concerning your eyes and heart. Be strong in spirit and virtue.
5. Believe firmly in the victory of Christ over the tempter.
6. Remember that Christ makes you a participant in His victory.
7. Listen carefully to the word of God.
8. Be humble and love mortification.
9. Pray without flagging.
10. Love the Lord your God and offer worship to Him only.